ESPN Shows English Favoritism With Champions League Schedule

ESPN and Setanta Sports have both unveiled their TV schedules for the Champions League quarter-final games, to be played on April 7-8 and April 14-15, and unfortunately it’s a slap in the face to soccer purists.

There’s no surprise on April 7 when ESPN2 will feature Manchester United against Porto, while Setanta will show Villarreal against Arsenal. But, on April 8, ESPN2 have put ratings before football by deciding to show Liverpool against Chelsea instead of the tie of the round which is undoubtedly Barcelona against Bayern Munich.

Sure, this is a Premier League blog and I love my English football, but I’m much more looking forward to see Barcelona clash against Bayern Munich than seeing another mindnumbing match between Liverpool and Chelsea, who are renowned for sucking the life out of soccer whenever they play in big cup matches.

Here’s the schedule:

Tuesday, April 7

Manchester United v Porto, 2:45pm, ESPN2

Villarreal v Arsenal, 2:45pm, Setanta Sports

Wednesday, April 8

Barcelona v Bayern Munich, 2:45pm, Setanta Sports

Liverpool v Chelsea, 2:45pm, ESPN2

Tuesday, April 14

Bayern Munich v Barcelona, 2:45pm, Setanta Sports

Chelsea v Liverpool, 2:45pm, ESPN2

Wednesday, April 15

Arsenal v Villarreal, 2:45pm, Setanta Sports

Porto v Manchester United, 2:45pm, ESPN2

What are your thoughts regarding the matches that ESPN and Setanta Sports selected? Share your opinion by clicking the comments link below.

About The Author

Publisher of World Soccer Talk, Christopher Harris founded the site in 2005. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Guardian and several other publications. Plus he has made appearances on NPR, BBC World, CBC, BBC Five Live, talkSPORT and beIN SPORT.
Harris, who was born and raised in Wales, has lived in Florida since 1984, and supported Swansea City since 1979. Last but not least, he got engaged during half-time of a MLS game.

22 Comments

EladioMarch 27, 2009

Wow…a network that is struggling to find an audience for soccer in the states has the nerve to show the game which will EASILY get higher ratings. I can’t believe they would put their advertisers first.

If you were a real fan of soccer, then you’d pay the extra money to get Setanta and you wouldn’t be whinging about not being able to see Barca and Munchen.

I think it’s a bit presumptuous to say that Chelsea Liverpool would get better ratings. Are we forgetting the Hispanic population in the US? Most of them would prefer to see Marquez and Leo Messi; not to mention that Barca, at least up to this point, has been making the best football I have seen in many years. Just my 2 cents.

Eladio, I already have Setanta Sports but there’s a huge portion of the soccer audience who do not. And some of them are going through some tough economic times right now. From a strictly football experience, I feel that Barca against Bayern will be more entertaining and less predictable than Chelsea against Liverpool.

I am not so sure that being Hispanic automatically entitles you to get ESPN Deportes; there are many other factors such as providers, subscription packages and the like. Although impossible, it would be great to see an audience ratings comparison of Chelsea Liverpool vs. Barça Bayern. if both were played on ESPN2.

I think the Liverpool/Chelsea draw has picked up in entertainment since last years match. How could anyone forget the Riise own goal that sunk the hearts of Liverpool fans everywhere..

Liverpool in the past 2 weeks, granted a short time, have been by far the best football team in the world. Barcelona vs Bayern Munich in my opinion wont be close..Yeah, Bayern completely pantsed Sporting Lisbon…. But that was Sporting Lisbon, not Barcelona.

Either way the rest of the champions league should be superb.. Arsenal are starting to find their form and their big guns are returning from injury. Liverpool are playing out of this world.

I think more fans would be upset about not seeing Liverpool/Chelsea then seeing it. If anything the draw failed us… Liverpool/Chelsea 3 years in a row is some bad luck.

Chelsea/Liverpool last year was a much, much better tie than Barca/ManU which was supposed to be the “tie of the round”. Not to mention ESPN will be showing Barca/Bayern on one of its channels (and probably online, too). Why not do a little research before posting next time?

yeah i agree liverpool and chelsea play the worst football, but as im english i would rather watch and see the english teams go through than barca – bayern. Also Gerrard usually produces smomething special in the champios league. We all know Arsenal on there day are brilliant to watch so it all depends if they tur n up to the game

Jimmy, the research was done, but I’m concentrating the article on the ways that most of us watch our Champions League football — which is still either ESPN2 or Setanta Sports. A lot of the soccer fans out there still don’t have ESPN Deportes and/or ESPN360.

I realize that Chelsea against Liverpool would get higher ratings than Barcelona versus Bayern Munich, but what I’m trying to demonstrate here is that ESPN’s decisions are always going to favor English teams instead of the matches that may be more exciting or entertaining. I’m a fan of the Premier League clubs as much as anyone else, but I would much rather see Bayern against Barca than Chelsea v Liverpool. I’ll end up watching both matches, but for all of those people who don’t have Setanta, they’ll have to settle for Liverpool versus Chelsea.

I’m sorry but I can’t remember a single live Arsenal game on ESPN2 all year. The last game (I think) was the quarterfinal last year against Liverpool, and I’m pretty sure there weren’t any of there group games on ESPN2 last season. I’m sorry but it doesn’t favor Arsenal, they pick Man Utd and Liverpool, and then Chelsea, and then Arsenal from what I’ve seen. Can any other Gooners back me up on this? I feel like I’m the only one who notices this.

english premier league sucks! they are just killing football, brainwashing the ignorant world that there football is the best. by the way how does their poor national team fare? they brag and always declare themselves favourites before major tourneys yet the idiots always get eliminated like small pox. f**k the premier league!

I agree with Chris, I haven’t seen the Barca-Bayern match as being listed for the usual ESPN Classic 5:00 slot. Unfortunately, that’s taken up by some 1964 Master’s Film show that no one is going to watch. It’s actually listed as though it’s going to be shown on THURSDAY at 5:00. So before I get extremely angry at ESPN for failing to show this game on the day it’s played, and send some nasty emails to their station, someone please tell me this is either a mistake in the listings or a cruel joke.

I certainly could have not said it better myself actually when you said “Liverpool and Chelsea, who are renowned for sucking the life out of soccer whenever they play in big cup matches.” this is so true its not that good of soccer. When Barca and Bayern play you know for sure its going to be good because both of these teams know how to keep true soccer in play when it comes down too it.